Best PlacesHouck, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Houck, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Houck ranks 50,227th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Houck
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Houck's strengths and weaknesses
Where Houck ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 154 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 76% of towns
Where Houck ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Houck
A household needs to earn about $12,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Houck home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $25,346, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses a national 0.90% effective rate, since no local rate is published, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Houck
Houck runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Houck.
Who works in Houck, and how
Work in Houck centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Houck
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Houck.
What the weather is like in Houck, month by month
Houck sees roughly 154 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 29° | 12° |
| April | 68° | 49° | 28° |
| July | 91° | 73° | 53° |
| October | 71° | 50° | 30° |
Flying in and out of Houck
The nearest airport, Show Low Regional, is about 84 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 148 miles away.
The best schools in and around Houck
Schools across Houck average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sanders Elementary SchoolF · 6% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sanders Middle SchoolF · 4% proficient
Top high schools
- Valley High SchoolF · 5% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Houck school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Houck measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Houck against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Houck
Is Houck a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Houck ranks 50,227th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low property taxes, and low disaster risk, and lowest on the schools and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Houck expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $45,045. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $25,346 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Houck safe?
Houck is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $948 per resident a year.
Compare Houck with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Houck. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Houck represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Houck detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Houck: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Houck: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Houck: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Houck: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Houck detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.